Sword Art Online: Alternate Adventures
by Sean pizza
Summary: An alternate take on the worldwide known anime series Sword Art Online, featuring new stories to tell, new adventures to face, and new characters to fall in love for.
1. The Augmented Announcement

**JAPAN** , **KANTO, 6:00 PM**

* * *

"Konichiwa _wonderful citizens of Japan, I'm Regara Yakura with Remiyu Gatini and today is the official release of the Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Sword Art Online!"_

 _"Goodness that sure is a mouthful of words"_

 _"Well it's a mouthful of a game. The designer of the nerve gear, the cardinal system, and the seed; Akihiko Kayaba, says that the game's content can last the regular gamer a rough estimation of two to three years!"_

 _"That's amazing Regara, but what's the nerve gear?"_

 _"It's the new virtual reality headset which makes use of all the person's senses. Unlike early examples of virtual reality headsets like the oculus rift which only made use of someone's sight and hearing, the nerve gear can allow you smell new aromas, taste delicious new foods, feel textural new environments and practically live in a whole new world!"_

 _"Sounds like I better get a copy of this revolutionary system how much is the nerve gear and the game?"_

 _"Well Remiyu, the nerve gear is starting at ¥131052 while the game costs ¥14197, selling at your local Sofmap, Game Hollywood, or Media Land. Unfortunately for us, the game and nerve gear have been selling like crazy, selling just over seven million copies combined from all around the world just as we speak to you."_

 _"Well here's to everyone hoping all the rest of us can snag a copy of Sword Art Online, this is TV Japan, signing off!"_

* * *

With the game's ten year development, I've had more than enough time to scrape enough money to afford a copy of the game, a nerve gear headset, a monitor, and a computer. Now after all these months, I can finally escape to a whole new-

"Kazuto! Could you help me with the cooking for a bit?" My sister called from downstairs.

"Coming Sis!"

Goodness, I thought Suguha had learnt how to cook chicken korma by now, oh well. "Which step are you up to?" I shout down the stairs to her.

"Well, I don't remember how long to cook the garlic and onions."

"Just...garlic and onion?"

"Yes, how long do I cook them?"

"Goodness me Suguha, you forgot the ginger!" I say, groaning silently as I rush to the pantry to grab some ginger.

"Oh god, do-do I have to start over?"

"No no, just turn down the flames and chop up the ginger."

"Okay then, thank you."

I grab another pan to heat up the ginger, put it on the stove and drizzle some oil in the pan, and turn the flame on under it. "Finished!" Suguha says.

"Good, now how long have you cooked the garlic and onions for?"

"Just about one minute."

"Then put the garlic in the pan and cook it for a minute, then chuck the garlic and onions in that pan. Do you also remember what to do next?"

"No, sorry." She says chucking the ginger in the pan.

"It's all right, I'll go and print off the recipe, also stir the mixture around each minute or so when you put it in." I say running up to my mum's room and printing off a sheet. I go to rush back, but she has left. "Suguha!?" I call out, with no response. I look all around the house, eventually coming across her laying on my bed, with the nerve gear on.

I tap on the nerve gear repeatedly, before she turns the power off and takes it off. "Did you REALLY forget the ginger?"

"I forgot what came after. I just wanted to have the first go! We both paid for this!"

"You paid only fifty two yen!"

"And you would be fifty two yen short had it not been for me."

"Gah, just go and finish dinner!"

"Whatever Kabutops."

As my sis stomps downstairs, I can finally lay down on my bed and start up the game. I slip on the nerve gear, clip up the nerve power straps and shout to the gear: "Link start!"

* * *

 **SIGHT-OK**

 **SOUND-OK**

 **VOICE-OK**

 **TASTE-OK**

 **SMELL-OK**

 **LANGUAGE: JAPANESE**

 **LOGIN-USERNAME:********

 **PASSWORD:*******

 **CHARACTER CREATION:**

 **You have character data from the beta test, would you like to load it?**

 **'Kazuto' (M)**

 **YES**

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

* * *

 **LEVEL 1 VIOLET TOWN CENTRE, 6:09 PM**

* * *

Finally I'm back in this world. This beautiful iron castle in the sky. Time to go off and finish this game full on! I run off through the market towards a gate to the plains, but I bump into someone.

"Augh, ow oh god, are you okay?" I say, helping the man up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I should have been looking where I was backing up to."

"And I should have not been running, I'm just so hyped about this game and I want to immediately get into the action!"

"Me too, but, I don't know where the gate is. Also, I think I've seen your face somewhe-YEAH I know you! You're one of the beta testers from the SAO mag!"

"Well yeah, but-"

"Since you're already super powered up from the test, could you help me out with this game? I'm kind of a noob. I'm just used to pushing buttons to win."

"Whatever, let's go to the gate."

"Thanks bud, I'm Kline by the way." He says grabbing my hand and shaking it."

"Nice to meet you Kline, I'm Kazuto."

* * *

 **LEVEL 1 SAPPHLOWER PLAINS, 6:16 PM**

* * *

Kline gets knocked back by an orc boar and fall flat on his butt.

"Ow, why is this thing so tough to beat?" He groans.

"You've already forgotten that you don't win this game by pushing buttons."

"Well then YOU kill the pig!"

"Alright, for low level monsters like these, you'll need to get their attention first." I say throwing a rock at the boar. The boar stumbles for a bit from impact, then turns around and charges at me grunting and howling.

"Then get your weapon out, hold it over your shoulder to charge it up, then RELEASE!" I swing my sword down onto the boar and I shoot forward, slicing through it like butter.

"That...was AWESOME!" Kline shouts jumping on his toes.

"Think you can handle it?"

"Just you wait, I'll mow down these pigs like cutting an American lawn! But...uhhgg, I'm getting hungry, so I'm gonna log out & order a pizza."

"Glad I could help, seeya." I say walking off to Quartower plains, but Kline runs up and pulls on my shirt.

"Hey, where's the log-out button?"

"You just open menu, select options, then it's right..." I say and do, but there's no log-out button.

"It's right...where, Kazuto?"

"It should be at the bottom, but it's probably a bug or something, it's common for stuff like this to happen, we'll just e-mail an admin."

So we do, then we start heading back to town to wait for a response, but we're suddenly warped to the centre, where we can see tons of players, some of which we see also don't have a logout button.

"Is, is this happening to everyone?" Kline asks.

"I don't know Kline, but I really hope this is all a coincidence."

Just then, there appeared a red hexagonal warning sign in the sky, then another, and another, and more and more until the sky shone a crimson red curtain over our eyes. The crowd, along with Kline panicked and tried to leave the area, but the teleport crystals wouldn't work and if we tried to walk out we were teleported back in.

 **"Remain calm fellow players, this is an important announcement which will not be repeated so please listen up!"** Boomed a loud voice from the red sky.

 **"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online. You have all noticed that the log-out button seems to be missing from all of your menus, I assure you that this is not a bug or a glitch, this is a welcome. This is a welcome to a new life inside a world far superior to the pitiful world we used to know. Unfortunately, in order for you to experience my new world, I had to make extreme decisions.**

 **The nerve gear is even more revolutionary than advertised I assure you, because it not only embraces you in a new world, it can keep you in the new world. If any one from the outside world tries to remove your helmet, you will stay in the game because the nerve gear can hold a conscience until the character either dies, or completes the game. You also don't need to worry about your real bodies dying of hunger, because as long as the nerve gear helmet stays on your head and you keep eating in this world, it can send signals to your brain that will give the illusion of consumption of actual food. Of course when you wake up your body will notice the illusions and you will feel extremely hungry.**

 **And to make this whole experience even more real, if your hp reaches 0 in the game, a powerful microwave radiation will fry your brain in the real world. So as said before, the only way to escape from this paradise and get back to the other world, alive, is to defeat the boss on the 100th floor, who will be me.**

 **Enjoy all the 100 floors of wonder in the new world, I hope to see you soon, and enjoy your stay in Aincrad!"**

* * *

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


	2. Two terrified worlds

**EARTH, JAPAN, TOKYO, KIRIGAYA RESIDENTS, 6:51**

* * *

"Kazuto, dinner's ready!" I call out to him, with nothing coming back. He must still be in his game. "Hey Kabutops, if you don't get down here, I'm gonna come up there and smash your nerve gear!" I shout, but cringe, remembering that he can't hear me, so I run up the stairs to his room and knock on the helmet repeatedly. But with no response. Something then flashes on his computer, so I open it up to see a news report emailed to him. I open it up and watch.

 _"Afternoon citizens of Japan, I'm Remiyu Gatini, with some dreadful news to report. It appears that the designer of Sword Art Online and the nerve gear has stated that the players currently inside the game are trapped inside that virtual world. The following footage I am about to show you may be disturbing to some audiences."_

 _ **"Good afternoon citizens of the world, my name is Akihiko Kayaba. Although you may perceive the current circumstances of the people inside my game glum and hopeless, I assure you that that there is a much brighter side to this event. I have introduced a whole new world to the six million eight hundred & eighty-four thousand, nine hundred & sixty five remaining players. For you see, the nerve gear is incredibly more powerful that advertised, for it can not only immerse a player in a whole new world, it can keep a player there as well. Even if you remove the helmet from the player's body, their mind shall stay in the game.**_

 _ **The nerve gear can also feed new information to the brain to create illusions of certain things that are happening in the game such as consumption of food and water, so there will luckily be no problems for the player's bodies staying alive. I have also created a new website which will be live streaming every single player's experiences, so just search up anyone to see how they're going, plus it's advertisement free!**_

 _ **You also don't have to worry about internet connection because I have created thousands of mega servers that are all running at 160 frames per second, but you will need to pay for the power still. And don't think of trying to disconnect anyone from the game either, because the megaservers are the only thing keeping them alive. But feel free to join in on the fun for only a very low price of-"** TRANSMISSION CUT **.**_

 _"We are all shocked to her this information, but not all of it has been confirmed, so please stand by for further news. We also won't be hearing from Mr Yakura anytime soon, since he is one of the players in the game. This is Remiyu Gatini of TV Japan, signing off."_

I'm almost...frozen. My legs are frozen, my arms are frozen, my eyes are frozen, but my heart is beating too slow. I am too frozen with shock to do anything but stare at the screen with my mouth dropped open. My brother...trapped in the game? His mind subjected to stay in that dreadful game? For...for how long? And what if he dies!? No-no, shut up Suguha! Kazuto is great at games, I'm sure he'll be fine. He must be fine.

* * *

 **SWORD ART ONLINE, AINCRAD, FLOOR 1 TOWN CENTRE, 6:54**

* * *

Everyone was running around frantically screaming. Some were constantly flicking through their menu trying got find any other way out. Some even tried jumping off the edge of the bridges, but they were always teleported back onto the land, driving them crazy. While me, Kline, other beta testers and other people who were able to keep our sanity tried to clam down the rest.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" A girl shouted at Kline.

"Please, this isn't as bad as you think!" Kline pleadingly replied.

"HOW?"

"At least we're not trapped in a Dark Souls game."

"This is harder than Dark Souls!" A boy shouted, continued with even more screaming from the crowd.

"Nobody is going to get out of here if we scream our heads off! I suggest we all go to our houses and calm ourselves down." I shout to the people on front of me.

"But what are we gonna come back to? Just this stupid game!"

 **"Everyone be quiet!"** Another man shouted from the crowd. He stepped up onto the fountain and spoke to the whole crowd.

"This entire situation we're in is glum and seemingly hopeless, I know, but you've all forgotten the other things that he have, like a chance to beat this game!"

"But I heard this game lasts for over two years!"

"And I'll gladly fight for two years if it means I can get myself and all of you out of here. Everyone open your menus and check your pack options. You should find a game guide that was written by me and the other beta testers. It has information on all of the monsters and bosses on the first five floors and all the other mechanics in the game."

"I ain't trusting no beta testers! They're probably part of the reason why we're trapped in here!" A man shouted to the speaker.

"What do you mean?"

"I find it strange that every single one of the beta testers didn't complain about the nerve gear's hardware. I say that Kayaba paid them off to not talk about the danger of this game!"

"Then why would we put ourselves in a trap we knew about?"

"You all probably agree with Kayaba and want everyone to live here! You were probably paid to like it!"

That comment turned most of the crowd against us and started a riot. Some of us ran out, which only unfortunately pushed on the crowd's grudge. We continued to argue with the crowd, but they wouldn't listen to us, so we all turned tail and ran out to Sapphlower Plains.

* * *

 **SWORD ART ONLINE, AINCRAD, FLOOR 1 SAPPHLOWER PLAINS, 7:02 PM**

* * *

"So much for trying to calm down those jack-asses." Kline panted and whined.

"We're all probably just afraid and stressed, so we all need some rest." A girl said.

"We can't go back to town when the town is against us!" I proclaimed.

"I say we spend some time here and grind up some levels while the town cools down. What levels are you guys anyways?" The man who spoke up proudly back in the town asked.

"18." The short girl in the brown hood said.

"2." Said Kline.

"20." I said.

"3." Said a forty-something looking guy with greyish hair.

"18." Said the tall girl in a black cloak with bubblegum-pink hair.

"Well I'm level 17, so anyone who wants to grind some exp come with me. I'm Diabel by the way." Me, Kline, one guy, and the shorter girl went to stand beside him, while the other walked back to town.

"I only joined because I don't want to go back with those whining nitbrits." The girl in the hood says.

"That's fine miss...um..." Diabel says.

"Asuna." She replies.

"Right, and who are the rest of you?" Diabel asks.

"Kazuto." I say.

"Heathcliff." The older man says.

"Sir Kline, Knave of the ramen, at your service m'lord." Kline jokes.

"Right, well Knave of the ramen, pray tell where you suggest we start grinding?" Diabel jokes back to him.

"Uh, here with...uh...orc-boars?"

"Let's all aim for level twenty-five before we go back, agreed?" Diabel says.

"I think we should go to level thirty, just so there will be absolutely no way we'll lose to the boss." I reply.

"I'm going to go to level forty." Asuna says.

"What the hell is wrong with you both being all power crazy? I'll be fine at level five!" Kline shouts.

"Level 25 sounds good to me, but how about Kazuto and Asuna head for the Mantiscythes in Sapphlower forest?" Heathcliff requests.

"There's no Mantiscythes until Floor 10." I say.

"I know a secret passage through the forest that leads to fields of level 12 Mantiscythes."

"Great, so I'll go off with Kline and we'll reach level 25/5 and we'll meet at town center at...say...7?" Diabel says.

"Sure Diabel." We say as we head off.


End file.
